Death of a Leader and Coach

Sadness and loss is not limited to stories dealing with the coronavirus pandemic:

Longtime Brick Township High School assistant football coach Dominick “Don” Marino passed away suddenly Tuesday following an apparent heart attack.

Marino was part of the Green Dragons program for nearly 30 years, starting in 1992 under the legendary Warren Wolf and most recently was the head freshman coach under Len Zdanowicz who said in a Facebook post “he’s meant so much to this program for almost 30 years.  A great man, coach and father figure to all our boys.”

Don spent most of his time at Brick working with the freshman and if you have followed the Green Dragons program you know that going back to Coach Wolf’s tenure he always believed that it was important to have solid and strong coaches working with the 9^th graders.

Marino was that and from all accounts did a superb job with young players in preparing them for the next level when they would become part of the storied Brick varsity program.

The 61-year old North Bergen native was president of the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey and drew praise from Gov. Murphy who said in a statement that Marino “didn’t just run into burning buildings, he knocked down walls to protect his fellow firefighters. He put his heart and soul into everything he did for his members, and in doing so exemplified everything you could ever want from a leader.”

Marino is survived by his wife Ellen, three children and two grandchildren. The loss is a tough one to swallow as it comes less than five months after Wolf, the godfather of Brick football died at the age of 92.